Question

What is most likely to happen if a health system punishes an individual for an unintended error that was the result of a systems problem?

(A) Staff may be less likely to talk openly about and learn from errors.
(B) Staff will be more careful and errors will decrease.
(C) The response will weaken the safety culture.
(D) A and C

Answer 1

If a health system punishes an individual for an unintended error that was the result of a systems problem, staff may be less likely to talk openly about and learn from errors and the response will weaken the safety culture.

Step-by-step explanation:

If a health system punishes an individual for an unintended error that was the result of a systems problem, the most likely outcomes are that staff may be less likely to talk openly about and learn from errors (option A) and the response will weaken the safety culture (option C). Punishing an individual for a systems problem creates a culture of blame instead of focusing on identifying and addressing underlying issues in the system. When staff are afraid of punishment, they are less likely to report errors and share valuable information to improve patient safety.